On 26th September, we had the pleasure of chatting with Mr. Bhoovarahan Thirumalai (better known as ‘Bhoo’), one of the founders of both Aspire Systems and Aspiration Energy (among his other entrepreneurial ventures). He started his entrepreneurial career while in college, and after tasting initial success made a conscious decision to work at other companies before setting upon his entrepreneurial path a few years hence.
It was a very interesting fireside chat, with Bhoo’s humor and modesty playing the perfect foil to his success story. .
Here are some highlights from the session (You can catch the full video here):
Bhoo’s story takes us from his days of growing up in a lower middle class family to the heady days of success, with the deep pits of despair in between. Although maybe not a typical rags to riches story, it is close enough to being about not only inspiration but also awe!
He started off his entrepreneurial career while at college, and found that he was making almost a quarter of the salary he could earn after graduating. This made him a firm believer in the path of entrepreneurship. Both, Bhoo and his business partner decided to part ways and rejoin in a few years after they both worked elsewhere and built up a nest egg.
After coming together again, they soon went on to build company after company, in various sectors, most which ended up failing. They then started Aspire systems in the mid-90’s and by the early 2000’s were deep in debt and despair. However, through sheer hard work and perseverance, they turned the corner and from then on there has been no looking back. They have been going from strength to strength, from growing their IT Services business into one of the fastest growing companies in the country to diversifying into the solar space.
It is not the money alone that drives Bhoo to achieve excellence, although it was the reason for starting out on the entrepreneurial path, it is the sheer adrenaline rush of being on a entrepreneurial roller coaster that motivates him.
Some of his key points to fellow entrepreneurs are:
- Perseverance is the key to success - don’t give up!
- Having a co-founder/ partner is essential, and it is important to find someone who balances your skill sets
- Use a mix of chemistry-physics-maths (in this order) - i.e. The chemistry between the two of you, the logistics of working together, and the numbers in play (financials) - to find the right partner/ co-founder
- You don’t need to know the ins and outs of the business you are running - if you have the right partner or team in place
- Always work towards the smaller goals keeping in mind the larger vision
You can catch the full video here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItF7AackQJY]